8am: Cronyism in the Taliban’s regime is openly practiced. When hiring, it has become a principle that the Taliban prioritize a Taliban member or their “crony” among the candidates for an administrative post. Within the Taliban group itself, cronyism among different factions maintains their relationships and determines their level of interaction. Even if someone is transferred from one post to another within the same faction, they gather their cronies from the previous office and take them to the new one. The person replacing them also brings their cronies to the office. This situation, due to the frequent transfers in the Taliban regime, is a significant obstacle to providing services and advancing routine administrative matters. In the Taliban regime, professional qualifications and expertise do not matter, and it is easy for a war commander to be appointed as the Minister of Public Health, as recently, Mullah Hibatullah appointed his deputy from the Ministry of Interior as the Minister of Public Health. Click here to read more (external link).